New Delhi: Petrol prices in three metro cities of Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata have gone up by almost 2 per litre between April 2 and April 5, 2022, touching record highs as state-owned fuel retailers hiked the rates again on Tuesday by 80 paise for the 13th time in the past 15 days. In all, petrol and diesel prices have gone up by Rs 9.20 per litre.
Meanwhile, Petroleum minister Hardeep Puri while reacting to fuel price hikes, defended the move, saying that the rise in India is one-tenth of prices raised by other countries.
In India the price hike has just been 5 per cent while in the US and France, it has been 50 per cent each, the minister said.
Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 104.61 per litre as against Rs 103.81 previously, while diesel rates have gone up from Rs 95.07 per litre to Rs 95.87, according to a price notification of state fuel retailers.
Petrol prices are the highest in Mumbai among the four metro cities, where it is being sold at Rs 119.67 per litre. On April 2, petrol was selling at Rs 117.57 per litre in the financial capital of the country.
Similarly in Chennai, petrol is selling at Rs 110.09 per litre on Tuesday, while on April 2, it was selling at Rs 108.21 per litre. In Kolkata too, petrol rates have gone up almost by Rs 2 a litre. On April 5, it is being sold at Rs 114.28 per litre, whereas on April 2 the price in Kolkata was Rs 112.19 per litre.
Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending upon the incidence of local taxation.
This is the 13th increase in prices since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision on March 22.
Referring to rising petrol prices, the minister said: "We are not the only country impacted by the war." The Russia-Ukraine war has affected the entire world, he added.
Citing figures, the minister said the increase in prices of petrol was very low in India as compared to developed and other developing nations in the aftermath of the war.
He said petrol prices have gone up by over 50 per cent in countries like the US, the UK, Canada, Germany, and Sri Lanka. In case of India the increase worked out to be only 5 per cent, he added.
Puri also pointed out that the price of natural gas has shot up several times in the international market after the outbreak of the war.
Intervening in the short duration discussion in the Upper House on 'Situation in Ukraine', the minister also rejected the Opposition's charge that Operation Ganga was 'operation transport' and not 'operation evacuation'.
The minister, who was one of the special envoys sent to countries bordering Ukraine to coordinate the evacuation of Indians from the war-torn nation, said the Indian government did organise buses in Ukraine to transport stranded students to bordering countries in the last stages of Operation Ganga and that cannot be dismissed as 'operation transport'.
The minister also refuted the Opposition's allegation that the advisory issued by the Indian mission to the students before the outbreak of the actual war was not clear and was ambiguous.
He said the advisory was very clear and advised the Indian students to leave the country and about 4,000 students actually left Ukraine before the outbreak of the war.
Many students opted to stay back, probably on the advice of the Ukrainian educational institutes that things would become normal, or due to fear of losing a year if they chose to leave, he said.
Later, under Operation Ganga, 18,000 stranded students were brought home from different nations bordering Ukraine, he said.